Alex Wood
@aowood.bsky.social
Passionately curious! Books, 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇮🇪 politics, history, architecture, cities, transportation, public policy, etc. | ⛳️🏌🏼| ⚽🏟🔱 fan | Alumnus of Goucher College, UGA & CUA | Chicagoland➡️Baltimore. RT&F≠E T=M. (Not really Yakko Warner).
Reposted by Alex Wood
This sounds reasonable but is 100% wrong. Whether you or agree or disagree with a study is completely immaterial. What matters is whether the study was conducted properly and generates valid results. And it's impolitic to say but it's true: you have to have some level of expertise to judge that.
JD Vance: "Science as practiced in its best form is that if you disagree with it, then you ought to criticize it and you ought to argue against it."
November 12, 2025 at 5:57 PM
This sounds reasonable but is 100% wrong. Whether you or agree or disagree with a study is completely immaterial. What matters is whether the study was conducted properly and generates valid results. And it's impolitic to say but it's true: you have to have some level of expertise to judge that.
Reposted by Alex Wood
U.S. elections are sending a consistent message: Americans are deeply frustrated with their government’s inability to solve problems. 🔗 on.wsj.com/4hXdx88
November 11, 2025 at 7:43 PM
U.S. elections are sending a consistent message: Americans are deeply frustrated with their government’s inability to solve problems. 🔗 on.wsj.com/4hXdx88
Reposted by Alex Wood
The rhetoric has been about training students for the economy of tomorrow. Yet when employers always, *always*, year after year, say they want their workers trained in the skills that Humanities and Social Sciences teach, somehow that never turns into more investment in those programs.
From today's Chronicle of Higher Ed briefing. I am *never* an advocate of cutting programs. But I am curious to see if there will be the same type of "students aren't majoring in this, so let's cut the program" discourse around computer science as there always is for the arts and humanities.
November 11, 2025 at 2:55 PM
The rhetoric has been about training students for the economy of tomorrow. Yet when employers always, *always*, year after year, say they want their workers trained in the skills that Humanities and Social Sciences teach, somehow that never turns into more investment in those programs.
Reposted by Alex Wood
No, President Obama is not getting “royalties” from Obamacare
November 10, 2025 at 12:39 PM
No, President Obama is not getting “royalties” from Obamacare
Reposted by Alex Wood
15 million Americans are going to lose their health care.
October 31, 2025 at 10:04 PM
15 million Americans are going to lose their health care.
Reposted by Alex Wood
"The U.S. is two economies. There's an enormous AI boom going on, huge investments, particularly in data centers. If you took that out of the numbers and you just looked at the non-AI parts of the economy, it's basically flatlining. We're on the cusp of a non-AI recession."
-- Me
-- Me
October 12, 2025 at 9:56 PM
"The U.S. is two economies. There's an enormous AI boom going on, huge investments, particularly in data centers. If you took that out of the numbers and you just looked at the non-AI parts of the economy, it's basically flatlining. We're on the cusp of a non-AI recession."
-- Me
-- Me
Reposted by Alex Wood
Reposted by Alex Wood
Posting again for the Monday crowd.
Lemme speak with directness and a sense of urgency about our most important economic threats, and what history teaches us about moments like this.
September 8, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Posting again for the Monday crowd.
Reposted by Alex Wood
President Trump and Governor Abbott have illegally sent the Texas National Guard into the sovereign state of Illinois over the objections of Governor Pritzker.
This is a frightening and unconstitutional escalation.
This is a frightening and unconstitutional escalation.
October 7, 2025 at 9:16 PM
President Trump and Governor Abbott have illegally sent the Texas National Guard into the sovereign state of Illinois over the objections of Governor Pritzker.
This is a frightening and unconstitutional escalation.
This is a frightening and unconstitutional escalation.
Reposted by Alex Wood
Thrilled that someone finally made a documentary about the rail trail movement that treats that history for what it is: a fascinating and shockingly controversial story about the right to public space, which is every bit as epic as the battle against the highway movement (which sometimes overlaps).
The Shocking Untold History of America's Rails-to-Trails Movement — Streetsblog USA
Some of the fiercest battles for the future of public space in America have happened on abandoned railway corridors — and the battles aren't over yet.
usa.streetsblog.org
October 7, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Thrilled that someone finally made a documentary about the rail trail movement that treats that history for what it is: a fascinating and shockingly controversial story about the right to public space, which is every bit as epic as the battle against the highway movement (which sometimes overlaps).
Reposted by Alex Wood
Oh he can just unilaterally pass unconstitutional laws now huh ok
October 3, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Oh he can just unilaterally pass unconstitutional laws now huh ok
Reposted by Alex Wood
🎶 Take a look, it's in a book 🎶
🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈
#FollowTheRainbow
🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈
#FollowTheRainbow
September 29, 2025 at 3:06 PM
🎶 Take a look, it's in a book 🎶
🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈
#FollowTheRainbow
🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈
#FollowTheRainbow
Reposted by Alex Wood
Don't worry too much about Trump's just-announced tariffs on patented drugs. Producers dare not pass the cost increases on. After all, consumers have all the leverage as they can threaten to just not buy essential medications.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/b...
Trump Will Slap Tariffs on Imported Drugs, Trucks and Household Furnishings (Gift Article)
The president said his tariffs would range from 25 to 100 percent and would go into effect next week.
www.nytimes.com
September 26, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Don't worry too much about Trump's just-announced tariffs on patented drugs. Producers dare not pass the cost increases on. After all, consumers have all the leverage as they can threaten to just not buy essential medications.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/b...
Reposted by Alex Wood
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
September 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
Reposted by Alex Wood
I recognize that "hustle culture" is all the rage, but what about "casually perusing a quaint bookstore on a cobblestone street in Edinburgh during a pouring rain" culture?
September 22, 2025 at 8:57 PM
I recognize that "hustle culture" is all the rage, but what about "casually perusing a quaint bookstore on a cobblestone street in Edinburgh during a pouring rain" culture?
Reposted by Alex Wood
Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.
July 18, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.
Reposted by Alex Wood
Everything's fine.
September 17, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Everything's fine.
Reposted by Alex Wood
Just so I'm clear:
TV host says we should kill every homeless person? No big deal
TV host says the right must "go to war" with the left? Pfft.
TV host says the government is cracking down on critics? Well, the government cracks down on him for the criticism.
Free speech, everyone.
TV host says we should kill every homeless person? No big deal
TV host says the right must "go to war" with the left? Pfft.
TV host says the government is cracking down on critics? Well, the government cracks down on him for the criticism.
Free speech, everyone.
September 17, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Just so I'm clear:
TV host says we should kill every homeless person? No big deal
TV host says the right must "go to war" with the left? Pfft.
TV host says the government is cracking down on critics? Well, the government cracks down on him for the criticism.
Free speech, everyone.
TV host says we should kill every homeless person? No big deal
TV host says the right must "go to war" with the left? Pfft.
TV host says the government is cracking down on critics? Well, the government cracks down on him for the criticism.
Free speech, everyone.
Reposted by Alex Wood
huge news for map nerds: VoteHub's 2024 precinct map has been released! votehub.com/2024-map/
The 2024 Election at a Precinct Level
Explore the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election results with our interactive precinct map. View vote margins, demographic breakdowns, and shifts from 2020 and 2016.
votehub.com
September 16, 2025 at 2:29 AM
huge news for map nerds: VoteHub's 2024 precinct map has been released! votehub.com/2024-map/
Reposted by Alex Wood
Commentary: Politics in Illinois have never been squeaky clean and without some divisiveness, but Jim’s career is a reminder there was a better day in our politics when Democrats and Republicans often worked together to overcome their differences.
Bob Kustra: Jim Edgar’s tenure as Illinois governor is a reminder of politics’ better days
As his lieutenant governor for eight years, I saw Jim Edgar as a mediator in the office of governor, always willing to listen to both sides.
trib.al
September 15, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Commentary: Politics in Illinois have never been squeaky clean and without some divisiveness, but Jim’s career is a reminder there was a better day in our politics when Democrats and Republicans often worked together to overcome their differences.
Reposted by Alex Wood
Wow. I gotta tune into this guy's church.
“How you die does NOT redeem how you lived”‼️
September 15, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Wow. I gotta tune into this guy's church.
Reposted by Alex Wood
RFK Jr. says America is terribly unhealthy. If you compare the US to, say, the UK the EU Australia, Japan, Canada, or any other developed country, he’s absolutely right. The difference is not vaccinations, though. Those countries all have vaccinations. The difference is universal healthcare.
September 14, 2025 at 10:20 AM
RFK Jr. says America is terribly unhealthy. If you compare the US to, say, the UK the EU Australia, Japan, Canada, or any other developed country, he’s absolutely right. The difference is not vaccinations, though. Those countries all have vaccinations. The difference is universal healthcare.
Reposted by Alex Wood
MK and I are deeply saddened to hear of the loss of Governor Jim Edgar.
Governor Edgar was a model public servant, a devoted father and husband, and an honest and honorable man.
Governor Edgar was a model public servant, a devoted father and husband, and an honest and honorable man.
September 14, 2025 at 9:01 PM
MK and I are deeply saddened to hear of the loss of Governor Jim Edgar.
Governor Edgar was a model public servant, a devoted father and husband, and an honest and honorable man.
Governor Edgar was a model public servant, a devoted father and husband, and an honest and honorable man.
Reposted by Alex Wood
After a North Carolina man attempted suicide twice, his wife tried to get him help at an inpatient clinic.
But their insurance provider refused to cover the treatment, deeming it “not medically necessary.”
But their insurance provider refused to cover the treatment, deeming it “not medically necessary.”
“Just Let Me Die”: After Insurance Repeatedly Denied a Couple’s Claims, One Psychiatrist Was Their Last Hope
After a North Carolina man attempted suicide twice, his wife tried to get him help at an inpatient clinic. But their insurance provider refused to cover the treatment, deeming it “not medically necess...
www.propublica.org
September 15, 2025 at 12:00 AM
After a North Carolina man attempted suicide twice, his wife tried to get him help at an inpatient clinic.
But their insurance provider refused to cover the treatment, deeming it “not medically necessary.”
But their insurance provider refused to cover the treatment, deeming it “not medically necessary.”
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."---Edward M. Kennedy, 1980 Democratic National Concession Address. 8/12/1980, New York, NY
September 14, 2025 at 11:55 PM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."---Edward M. Kennedy, 1980 Democratic National Concession Address. 8/12/1980, New York, NY